The global print market is in the process of transforming from analog printing to digital printing. As compared to analog printing, digital printing may allow users to create high quality images with greater ability to customize individual prints. It may also allow users to create short runs of prints at a fraction of the cost of a similar run on a traditional analog press. Some known methods of digital printing include, but are not limited to, electrophotographic printing, full-color ink-jet printing, laser photo printing, and thermal transfer printing methods.
Electrophotographic printing techniques may involve the formation of a latent image on a photoconductor surface mounted on an imaging plate. In some examples, the photoconductor may first be sensitized to light, in one example through charging with a corona discharge, and then may be exposed to light projected through a positive film of the document to be reproduced. This may result in dissipation of the charge in the exposed areas and the formation of a latent image on the photoconductor. The latent image may subsequently be developed into a full image by the attraction of oppositely charged toner particles to the charge remaining on the unexposed areas. Next, the developed image may be transferred from the photoconductor to the blanket, which in one example is a fabric-reinforced sheet of rubber or polymer wrapped around a cylinder which may receive the toner from the photoconductor before it is transferred to the substrate. From the blanket, the image may be transferred to organic or inorganic substrates, such as paper, plastic or other suitable materials, by heat, pressure, a combination thereof, or any other suitable method, to produce the printed final image.
The latent image may be developed using either a dry toner (a colorant or pigment mixed with a powder carrier) or a liquid ink (a suspension of a colorant or pigment in a liquid carrier). In some examples, the quality of the final image may largely be related to the size of the colorant or pigment particles. Smaller particles may provide images with a higher resolution because the smaller particle size may allow for transfer of more particles in the same area and the delineation of finer details in the image.